


late to the party

by cinderlily



Category: Pod Save America (RPF)
Genre: M/M, Misunderstandings, No cheating, Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-22 04:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14300664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: Two years after Lovett and Ronan go their separate ways, Jon finds Ronan back at Lovett's house, realizes he's a little in love with Lovett and almost ruins everything. Almost.





	late to the party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [persuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/persuna/gifts).



> This genuinely wouldn't have been finished without the help of anatomical_heart for an amazing deep beta, rachelisce for a good read through and celli for telling me I am not crazy even when I changed my mind like 8 times in the process.

Jon had a habit of taking the two dogs for a run in the mornings. Lovett wasn’t quite at his best before 9, so Jon would open the door with the key they’d exchanged for emergencies and take a wiggling Pundit out to get some energy out. 

There was a Circle K about a half mile away from their houses, and if he timed it right he would stop on the cool down and get a big gulp of Diet Coke for Lovett and a cup of coffee for himself. It had been a habit from the time he’d closed on his house, except on Saturdays as trying to get Lovett out of bed before noon on a Saturday was beyond even him. On those days he just let Pundit back in the house and went to his own. 

But most days he’d stash a change of clothes in a bag beside the door when he picked Pundit up, use the guest shower and get himself ready after shoving caffeine at the ever-annoyed Lovett. He wouldn’t say it was endearing, at least not aloud, but it had its perks to be the one to see him in the morning. He got to enjoy the full effect of messy hair, glasses, and belligerence.

Until, of course, the day he got back, handed Lovett his soda and flicked at the end of his nose like always before he heard that the guest shower was already running. He froze with his finger on Lovett’s face, and Lovett batted at it. 

“I’m getting up, freako,” Lovett said. 

He looked at Lovett’s bed, but it didn’t matter, no one could tell if it had been shared as Lovett twitched in his sleep, the blanket was never fully on in the mornings. 

“Is someone here?” 

Lovett frowned, eyes still closed. “You are.” 

“Someone _else_ , Jon,” he said, not knowing why his teeth were gritted together. 

Lovett opened one eye. “Oh. Um. Yeah. Ronan.” 

“Ronan?” 

“He’s in town for a while…” Lovett yawned and then took a sip of his drink. “Ugh. Bad syrup. Bad bad syrup.” 

Jon felt at once cold and hot. He wasn’t even sure why. He’d liked Ronan. When Lovett and Ronan were dating, he was happy for Lovett. Jon had been so happy, really. But that had ended three years before, in a fit of pique where Jon realized Ronan wasn’t moving to LA and Ronan realized Lovett was actually _staying_ in LA. It had been a mess, but even Lovett would admit it had been for the best. 

Except he was in Jon’s freaking shower. Or … Lovett’s guest shower. He was reacting weird. Maybe too much adrenaline. 

“Oh. Cool. Cool. Cool,” Jon said. When did he ever repeat cool? Who was he? He backs up, and Lovett started to shift up in his bed. “Um. I’m going to let you guys have … I need to take a shower. See you at work?” 

“Jon?” Lovett said, and Jon didn’t look back. Instead, he picked Leo up and grabbed his bag. He left his coffee. Maybe Ronan liked black coffee that was half-drunk. Who knew. 

* 

Generally, he and Lovett shared a car on the way to work. He called it caring for the environment, Lovett called it one less thing he had to function with in the morning. Plus he always claimed rights to the radio, so he would fiddle with his iPhone (already long-since synced to Jon's car’s bluetooth).

That morning Jon had control over the radio and couldn’t bring himself to do much beyond changing it to Sirius’s 2000’s station. He stopped to get another coffee and the guy at the drive-through offered to give Leo a lid with whipped cream on it. Leo was mad at Jon, or possibly he was projecting, so he gave in, and the dog sniffed at the whipped cream before licking it rapid-fire. Buy the dog’s affections. He was good at that. 

Lovett was at his usual place in the corner, and when Jon walked in, late, the whole room turned. Lovett raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Guys, I think the world is ending, Jon Favreau is a whopping 7 minutes late. Call your loved ones,” Lovett snarked. 

Tommy, seeming a little confused, blinked at Jon. “Dude, how are you late and Lovett’s on time? You take the same car.” 

“Not today,” Jon said and slipped into his seat with a frown. His mailbox gleamed with 200 new emails, and he had checked it before he went to bed the night before. “Starbucks was slow.” 

He didn’t even have to look to see that he was getting Tommy’s best _‘What the fuck’_ look. He ignored it in favor of seeing that there was an email from Dan. With Slack they rarely emailed, so he opened it. It was a middle of the night tirade about the possible GOP replacements for Paul Ryan being a race to the bottom, not too shocking he guessed. Even Slack had its word limits. Gmail? Not so much. 

He marked it to read for later and kept going. He had headphones for when he needed to be focused on a task. He liked the openness of the office, but it didn’t breed the best focus at times. Beside him,Tanya was talking to Priyanka about something from the newsletter the night before, Tommy was typing insanely loudly, and he could hear Lovett laughing. He slipped his earphones on and put on the ambient sound he liked the best, the sound of ocean waves that brought his brain to childhood vacations on the coast. 

There were almost 50 fewer emails in his box when a ping came up from Slack. He looked at it, and of _course _it was from Tommy. He could never let anything go. Tommy was currently seated less than four feet from him, could turn to him and talk but instead he was silently nudging him. He looked over, and Tommy was giving him a beatific smile.__

__**Tommy** _ _

__Tommy: **What’s with the face?**_ _

__Favs: **What face?** _ _

__Tommy: **You look like someone kicked Leo.**  
**Did Lovett kick Leo?**_ _

__Favs : **No, he did not.** _ _

__Tommy: **He looks weird.**_ _

__He looked over at Lovett, who other than concentrating on his screen, didn’t look weird._ _

__Favs: **He looks like Lovett to me.**_ _

__Tommy: **Told you, weird.**_ _

__He rolled his eyes and scoffed, giving Tommy a _look_. Tommy raised one eyebrow and smirked. There was a moment when he debated just ignoring him and going back to work, but in a momentary lapse of judgement he decided just to be honest instead. _ _

__Favs: **Ronan is back. He was at Lovett’s house this morning.**_ _

__Tommy coughed loud enough to bring the attention of everyone in the cramped front room to look at him. Jon’s eyes went wide. He looked at him, hoping to convey just how hard he would be strangling him if there weren’t witnesses._ _

__Elijah, who was fiddling with his phone, dared to ask. “Everything okay?”_ _

__“Trade talk,” Tommy said, and most people looked away, except for Lovett who seemed somewhat annoyed and typed something. Their group Slack announced itself._ _

___**_#tommyjonjon_**_  
Lovett: **Smell that?**  
**That’s bullshit**

__Favs: **I thought it was Luke’s cologne.**_ _

__Tommy: **He’s twenty one, give him a break.** _ _

__Lovett: **Avoidance, cute. What’s going on?**_ _

__Tommy: **Jon told me something stupid. Really ridiculously stupid.**_ _

__Jon snuck a look over towards Lovett, who was scanning his screen and looked over at the two of them. He made his typical annoyed face to Jon. Jon shrugged. He was beginning to blush. Stupid ears were giving away everything. He wasn’t sure what he was doing with this whole thing, but he felt like a complete moron._ _

__**Tommy** _ _

__Favs: **Smooth, Vietor.**_ _

__Tommy: **It is ridiculously stupid. I was there for the break up too, remember?**_ _

__He remembered. He wasn’t fond of the memories surrounding it, but he remembered. There were plenty of nights where he had to handle drunk Lovett, which was sometimes fun but in that time the complete opposite. After Ronan, he was a crier when he was drunk where he’d never been before and Jon was not the best with crying as a rule. Lovett crying over a _guy_? Yeah. He failed the test a lot. _ _

__After the worst was over, Lovett could laugh at Jon’s poor attempts at getting him to cheer up, calling Jon the Most Helpful Straight Best Friend he’d ever had. Jon had tried to correct him about the fact that he wasn’t entirely straight, but Lovett never seemed to listen to him say it. When he brought it up later, while sober, Lovett laughed it off and teased him about trying to fit in with the cool kids._ _

__**Tommy**  
Tommy **Why is Lovett staring at us?**_ _

__Favs **Maybe we should stop staring at him.**_ _

__Tommy muttered, ‘ _Shit_ ’ and then looked back at his computer. Lovett seemed not amused in the least and Jon attempted to go back to his work. He failed miserably. _ _

__*_ _

__At recording time, Lovett plopped into his seat and then slid down a bit, looking at Jon and Tommy._ _

__“Okay, so what are you not telling me?”_ _

__Tommy looked at Jon, and his eyes went wide. “Jon said that Ronan’s in town.”_ _

__“Really?” Lovett said, sarcasm thick. “Is that why you guys were stupid this morning? You could have just put that in the group chat.”_ _

__“We don’t need to do everything together,” Tommy pointed out._ _

__Both Jon and Lovett raised eyebrows at Tommy._ _

__“Okay. Maybe we do everything together, but we don’t _have to_.” _ _

__“Speaking of which, dinner tonight? Ronan wants to catch up with you guys.”_ _

__Jon could think of about a thousand things he would rather do than have dinner with Ronan, but Lovett was giving him strong ‘that question was _rhetorical_ vibes.’ He shrugged, Tommy nodded, and Tanya walked in before they could continue the conversation. _ _

__*_ _

__Ronan was dressed casually, which for some reason always startled Jon. It wasn’t like he’d spent a lot of time with Ronan even when he and Lovett were dating. He showed up to the occasional event, but he was almost always wearing a button-down shirt and black pants. He looked like he stepped off the set, in general. Instead, he was wearing jeans and a Yale Law shirt and his glasses._ _

__Lovett was smiling and laughing though, so Ronan’s laxness didn’t seem to be bothering him._ _

__They all sat at a local gastropub they liked that they NEVER let anyone call a gastropub as it was too LA even for them. He ordered a beer, and then another, and by the middle of the second, he was feeling a lot more relaxed. They talked about soft topics, catching up on life._ _

__Ronan and Tommy carried a lot of the conversation with talks about Tommy’s upcoming wedding. Jon tried to jump in a few times, but the two of them were discussing details he didn’t particularly care about. Not that he didn’t love Tommy and Hanna, or he was not psyched up to be in the wedding, but they were talking about venues, and Jon wasn’t a part of that._ _

__Lovett seemed to be on the same level. For a while, he was intently looking between Tommy and Ronan like he was watching tennis. After a while though he looked over at Jon and gave him a rueful smile and eye roll. Jon rolled his eyes back, and Lovett laughed. Ronan looked over at Lovett who shrugged, and then Ronan went back to the conversation as though nothing had happened._ _

__There was something _different_ between the two of them. Not just the whole seeing them together after not for so long, something else that he couldn’t quite place. They weren’t seated close enough, but Lovett was pretty anti-PDA. Or maybe it was the fact that Lovett was fully ignoring the conversation to look at his phone and check what appeared to be his Twitter timeline. He was a phone addict, they all were, but Jon knew he wouldn’t have done that in the past._ _

__He picked up his phone and fiddled with it for a minute before sending off a text._ _

__Jon: _Who knew Tommy knew so much about weddings?_  
Lovett: _You’ve been missing the Hanna and Tommy meetings. I got sucked into one to help with flowers. Never again._ _ _

__At this, Jon looked up to find Lovett meeting his eyes and shuddering. He mouthed ‘THREE HOURS.’_ _

__Jon laughed, and Lovett laughed back. The other two at the table looked over and gave weird looks to the table mates.. Jon blinked in mock innocence. He was wondering if could get Lovett to break off and go to the bar under the guise of refills, but Ronan turned to Lovett and broke in before Jon could finish the text under the table._ _

__“You convinced them to do Peonies? Really? I thought after Claire and Doug you would never touch peonies again.”_ _

__Lovett rolled his eyes. “Ugh, don’t remind me. But I’m not the one who’s putting the flowers together. Plus it fits their theme. And you should see her dress, it’s perfect with it…”_ _

__“NOPE,” Tommy called out._ _

__Lovett smiled. “I wasn’t going to describe it, loser. The flowers make it pop.”_ _

__“Thankfully I have no idea what you mean,” Tommy smiled._ _

__Just like that, Lovett was back in the conversation, telling the dreaded story of a mutual friend of he and Ronan who had their peonies shipped from China and apparently there was a groomzilla? Jon zoned out after a bit when he noticed how Lovett looked at Ronan and Ronan looked back._ _

__*_ _

__It festered. Jon had hoped that going out to dinner with Tommy and the two of them would kind of ease the tension enough that he wouldn’t be as out of it with Lovett. He was wrong. If anything, the dinner had made the whole thing worse. They’d been so casual and at ease around each other that it was like this weird twist in the gut._ _

__They had a shared history that Jon and Lovett didn’t have. One that they couldn’t have. He wasn’t sure why it was bugging him so much, but it was eating at him. He should be happy for his friend, and he had no idea why it wouldn’t go away. Tommy seemed delighted for Lovett, as much as he still shared Jon’s anxiety for the outcome._ _

__He still ran with Pundit though, as it was tradition. And maybe, just maybe, he liked the idea of having something that Ronan didn’t have. Sure Ronan and Lovett had adopted Pundit together but with Ronan in New York all the time, Pundit liked to gravitate to Jon. He wasn’t sure why that mattered, but it did._ _

__After the first day, he just found himself grabbing the leash and the dog quietly as possible and returning her in the same way. He didn’t leave drinks, nor the occasional snack. They didn’t share cars. He just did his routine without the need to invade Ronan and Lovett’s space._ _

__It was surprising, to say the least when he found Lovett at the door on the fifth morning, glasses on and his arms folded over his rumpled gray shirt._ _

__“Uh, hi?” Jon stumbled, almost forgetting to take the leash off of the dog before he let her go into the house._ _

__Lovett narrowed his eyes and Jon. “What’s your deal, Favreau?”_ _

__Jon was sweating, holding a bottle of water and the leash to a very annoyed Leo who wanted to play with his sister… he also had no idea how to respond to that question. He must’ve looked as pathetic as he felt as Lovett rolled his eyes._ _

__“You’re being weird. Why are you being weird?”_ _

__“I’m not being weird,” he insisted, knowing it was a lie._ _

__Lovett looked around. “You haven’t come in my house uninvited in a week. Did you get turned into a vampire? Do you need a formal invitation now?”_ _

__“It’s light out,” he said, and Lovett rolled his eyes._ _

__“Oh good, that’s the point you’re holding onto.”_ _

__Jon took a step into the house, breaking the barrier for the first time since Ronan had shown up. “Look, I didn’t get turned away.”_ _

__“Great,” Lovett said and shifted from foot to foot. “Now you explain why this is a first this week.”_ _

__Jon swallowed and looked around. “You have a guest. It’s rude for me just to come in when you have a guest.”_ _

__“Ronan is in New York. He left the day before yesterday,” Lovett said. Relief washed over Jon in a way he wasn’t proud of. “He won’t be back for a week.”_ _

__And there went the relief._ _

__He forced a smile. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”_ _

__“So you’re telling me I’ve had to get my own caffeine and drive in the hell that is LA traffic because of _Ronan_?” Lovett rolled his eyes. “You’ve known him as long as I have! How is he a guest?” _ _

__Jon shrugged with one shoulder. “He doesn’t live here?”_ _

__“You are such a loser, Jonathan, I swear,” Lovett said, but it was weirdly soft. “Now, do you want to take one car to work? I think Elijah is worried he’s going to have to split Christmases or something.”_ _

__“You’re Jewish.”_ _

__“You know what I mean.”_ _

__Jon rolled a hand through his sweat-damp hair. “Let me take a shower. I’ll be back in ten.”_ _

__“Leave Leo, for the love of Gd. You’d think these dogs don’t spend more time then is natural together.”_ _

__He knelt down beside his wiggling dog and let him go, trying to squash the urge to grin as he ran across the street._ _

__*_ _

__Over the next few days, everything went back to normal. Morning runs, stops for coffee and soda. Splitting rides to work. Jon felt guilty for the level of relief it gave him to just have that back. He was even okay when Lovett blasted ‘Closer’ by the Chainsmokers and sang along on the way home from work. He might have even liked it._ _

__The first night Lovett asked if he wanted to do take out and movies, he turned him down. Not that he didn’t _want_ to do it, but he was uncomfortably aware that while Ronan wasn’t there, he was coming _back_ and that somehow made it feel like he was intruding even though Lovett was alone. _ _

__Lovett had taken his excuse of having a speech to write for an old Fenway client with only a small glare._ _

__When he tried to pull the same thing the second night, Lovett gave him a look that had hurt behind it, and he backed down quicker than Leo in a fight against Pundit. He ended up on Lovett’s couch that was too soft with a thing of Mongolian Beef watching reruns of “The Good Place” and enjoying it. (Even with Lovett jumping in to brace him for ‘ _the best line_ ’ every other minute.) _ _

__The third night was a Saturday, and he didn’t even bother to try and get out of it. Instead, he preemptively invited Lovett to his house, old episodes of “Game of Thrones” on the DVR and an actual Blue Apron meal on the stove._ _

__“Mmm,” Lovett laughed, as he walked into the kitchen and saw the box. “Something smells hoppy, Jon.”_ _

__Jon spared him a look of mild contempt as he mixed onions into the beef. “Beggars can’t be choosers, _Jon_. At least I cooked.” _ _

__“Hey, I’ll have you know I spent an entire minute on that phone with the Chinese place.”_ _

__“Your poor ear,” Jon smiled despite himself. “Could you grab that small brown bag.”_ _

__Lovett looked at the bag in question and laughed. “No shit, this is _actually _the _actual_ pretzel buns and the _actual_ cheddar hoppy sauce?” ___ _

____Jon didn’t quite blush. He’d ordered it at the beginning of the month, without thinking about it. He’d thought it would make Lovett laugh. When it’d showed up at his house two days beforehand it had felt kind of like a gut punch. He was glad he got to use it._ _ _ _

____It turned out to be delicious, and the show was forgotten with the two of them seated at Jon’s table, like in the beginnings of Crooked Media, this time throwing ideas around about who they could get to interview rather than how to start a company in the first place. Lovett didn’t end up leaving until well after one, and if it weren’t for the fact that he lived across the street, Jon might’ve asked him to stay in the guest room._ _ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____The next Monday was like a cruel form of Groundhog’s day. He’d forgotten, somehow, as he was spending the weekend with Lovett that there was a clock over their heads. He opened the door to pick up Pundit that morning and found Ronan on Lovett’s couch, a cup of coffee in one hand and his iPad in the other._ _ _ _

____He looked up at Jon and smiled._ _ _ _

____“Going for your run?”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah,” Jon said, sure that whatever was on his face could not be described as a smile. “You’re back?”_ _ _ _

____Ronan nodded. “Yeah, until Thursday. Then back to New York for some rounds of interviews, then back here next Monday.”_ _ _ _

____Jon nodded back. “Cool.”_ _ _ _

____He turned around, almost forgetting Pundit’s leash in his wake, but grabbed it at the last minute. Pundit and Leo were blessedly well behaved on the run, and maybe he went a little further than usual because by the time he got back he felt like his legs were jelly and his stomach was full of lead._ _ _ _

____That weekend he made his excuses to Lovett, even with the Sad Eyes of Doom that followed them. He wasn’t going to let himself enjoy something that wasn’t his to enjoy. It was just playing house and he was an adult._ _ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____The next time Ronan came in, Jon flew up to San Francisco for a day. He and Dan had some paperwork they needed to go over, and Jon needed an escape from Los Angeles. He was getting to the point of suggesting another tour, and while he wasn’t against tours in general, it was a sign of desperation for Jon to be the one to want it actively._ _ _ _

____He took an early flight and got there just in time for a nice brunch. Dan was happy to see him, but even he looked a little confused._ _ _ _

____“You know a courier works just as well as a flight, right?”_ _ _ _

____He shrugged. “Missed your ugly mug, Pfieffer.”_ _ _ _

____“Could this have something to do with Tommy whining about you being a jerk since Ronan moved back to LA?”_ _ _ _

____Jon tried to frown around a bite of Eggs Benedict but he ended up half-choking when he tried to swallow, and it lost its effect. Dan shoved a glass of water in his face, and he took a few sips. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond. There was the truth, and there was what he wanted to say._ _ _ _

____He went with neither. “He hasn’t moved back. He just keeps _visiting_.” _ _ _ _

____“And you are belligerent.”_ _ _ _

____“I’m not belligerent,” he said, then noticed he was using a voice he hadn’t heard from himself in probably two decades. He forced himself to sit up straighter and relax. “I don’t want to see the whole Lovett breakdown again.”_ _ _ _

____Dan, who had finished his brunch, sat back in his chair. “You’re thinking that Ronan is going to hurt Lovett again? What if they make it?”_ _ _ _

____The Eggs Benedict seemed to be less palatable all of a sudden. He put his fork down and scooted back in his chair. “Ronan isn’t moving here… or there. And Lovett won’t move back to DC. It can’t work.”_ _ _ _

____“What if Lovett decides he wants to move to DC? I telecommute.”_ _ _ _

____“He’s not moving back to DC,” Jon snapped._ _ _ _

____Dan had a smile on his face, which kind of grated on his nerves._ _ _ _

____“What?”_ _ _ _

____Dan raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been wondering if this was going to go somewhere or if I was misreading things for a while.”_ _ _ _

____“What are you talking about?” He was not feeling the Mr. Miyagi bullcrap. Dan wasn’t THAT much older than him, and he rarely used his age as a form of one upmanship._ _ _ _

____“Come on, Favs, you’ve been weird over Lovett since you got him the job in the White House.”_ _ _ _

____That was decidedly untrue on a number of levels. “I didn’t get him the job in the White House, he _earned it_.” _ _ _ _

____“Yeah, but he wouldn’t have known about it unless you told him,” Dan said. “And you were first in line to tell him.”_ _ _ _

____Jon frowned. “He’s a damn good writer. He gave us good material from the beginning, and we were better with him on staff.”_ _ _ _

____“I’m not saying he didn’t belong there,” Dan sighed. “I’m saying you might remember when Ronan and Jon broke up but I remember when he and Ronan got together. You were a pain in the ass for weeks. Let’s not even start when he left the White House.”_ _ _ _

____He looked down at his eggs benedict and pushed the plate forward. The creeping sensation of what Dan was saying and the fact that it was true was going up his spine. Not that he was weird for Lovett, not exactly. Just that he was _gone_ for Lovett. _ _ _ _

____When he’d met Lovett, he was sure that the kid (he was nearly _Andy’s_ age) was something big. He had the comedy thing going for him and was rough around the edges, but Jon like the way he made up for it by working harder than he had to. It was something they shared. With Tommy, he and Lovett it had been a natural trio to settle into. _ _ _ _

____It’d been different with Lovett than Tommy, but all friendships were. Except most friendships don't have the thin line of something else between the two of them. Which, looking at it, there was._ _ _ _

____Dan looked wholly too satisfied with himself. Jon felt like he might puke his Benedict on him on principle alone._ _ _ _

____“So,” Dan waggled his eyebrows. “What’s next?”_ _ _ _

____“Fuck you,” Jon retorted, but both of them knew he didn’t mean it._ _ _ _

____Dan, blessedly, changed the subject back to work, and let Jon have his full on panic attack on the plane ride home. Even through the Xanax that he took before the ride._ _ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____For the record; trying to avoid someone who lives across the street from you _and_ who you work with was a herculean task. But Jon found he was pretty good at it when it came down to it. He faked a muscle strain and took Leo to the dog park instead of going for runs. It was frustrating in that a good run was his favorite way to blow off steam, but it took questions off the table. _ _ _ _

____He also developed the habit of going to work a bit earlier than he had been going and wearing his headphones more often. He had no choice but to record the podcasts with the guys, but that was never like a real conversation, and he was always sure to be last one in and first one out._ _ _ _

____Lovett noticed. Of course he did. But Jon brushed him off in the texts he was sent, and besides Ronan was in town so most nights he knew Lovett was busy. He made it through days and days of it._ _ _ _

____It wasn’t like he could tell Lovett what was going on. He hadn’t even told Tommy. Dan knew, which meant there was a distinct chance that Tommy knew, but he hadn’t approached Jon about it. There was no point in fucking up the dynamic more than he’d allowed it to be fucked up. So he might have realized he had some pretty intense feelings for one of his best friends. That was on him._ _ _ _

____Lovett deserved to be happy, and Ronan made him happy, so that was that._ _ _ _

____He thought he was fairly adult about it. Perhaps excepting the fact that he was lying to one of his best friends, faking an injury, and moping a good chunk of the time. Other than that, he was respectful of the whole thing._ _ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____Jon’s phone decided that the perfect time to die was late on a Friday night, which meant he was at the Grove’s Apple Store at nine on the dot the next morning. He had an appointment, blessedly, but it still left him seated in an Apple store for almost two hours when he really could have been anywhere else. He’d forgotten to bring his iPad so he had genuinely nothing to do, but people watch in the store and dick around with new stuff he wouldn’t bother buying._ _ _ _

____By the time he got out he was hungry, it was nearly eleven, and he had about two hundred missed emails, texts, and Slack conversations. He wasn’t even exaggerating. There was a cafe across the way that he and Lovett had gone to a few times, so he figured he’d take himself out to a cup of coffee and croissant and clear out the trash at very least._ _ _ _

____He looked up from his phone and caught sight of a familiar face._ _ _ _

____Ronan. It was Ronan. But he wasn’t alone._ _ _ _

____Ronan was kissing a guy. A tall red-headed guy that was decidedly not Jonathan Ira Lovett. He was doing it in _public_ where anyone could see and didn’t even seem to be embarrassed by it. Jon felt like the rug had been pulled out from beneath him and he’d fallen in a hole at the same time. _ _ _ _

____He was so freaking _angry_. A small, rational part of his brain was telling him that he shouldn’t be feeling like this, that he should even be relieved. If Ronan were cheating on Lovett, he would have a clear in to him. But the larger part of his brain was screaming that Lovett was going to be hurt, and that was taking away every semblance of rationality from him. _ _ _ _

____The Grove was busy enough that he was able to walk across the open space and almost to the little cafe without being noticed by the two. But Ronan turned in his seat when Jon was about fifteen feet and dared to smile at him. _Smile_. Like he wasn’t cheating on _Jon’s_ Lovett in front of him. _ _ _ _

____He thought about decking him, but in all honesty, he wasn’t the type to use force in any situation unless he had no choice (and even then it had rarely been successful). Ronan stood up and pointed to the guy seated next to him._ _ _ _

____“Hey, this is Liam.”_ _ _ _

____Jon just blinked at him. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”_ _ _ _

____“… What?” Ronan’s comically blue eyes blinked at him._ _ _ _

____“What the hell are you doing?” His voice was getting a little too loud, but it was hard for him to tell if he cared or not. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. “You’re in public. You have notoriety. What if Lovett sees this?”_ _ _ _

____“Jo—“ Ronan started, but Jon cut him off._ _ _ _

____“And how dare you think that you can just do this to Lovett? He’s intelligent, hilarious, attractive… who cheats on that? You had him _twice_ , and you just let him go the first time. Do you know what that did to him? He was crushed. You were LUCKY to get him back. Do you know what this’ll do to him? This is selfish. I thought you were better than that…” _ _ _ _

____From somewhere in his periphery a familiar voice popped up. “He _is_ better than that.” _ _ _ _

____Jon jerked his eyes to the left to find Lovett, looking confused and holding a cup of coffee. Jon blinked and then looked back at a slack-jawed Ronan. Liam, for his part, had stood up and all in all a good chunk of the Grove was staring at what must have looked like the most bizarre standoff. He shifted back and forth._ _ _ _

____“Jon,” Lovett said, and his voice was overly calm as he walked closer to the table. “This is Liam, Ronan’s boyfriend. He works for CNN.”_ _ _ _

____“But you… you’re his boyfriend. The last few weeks…”_ _ _ _

____Lovett tilted his head. “I think I’d know if I was his boyfriend. And if I were, I’d be a dick, as Ronan has been with Liam for six months.”_ _ _ _

____“Eight months,” Liam piped up._ _ _ _

____“Liam,” Ronan said. “Probably not the time.”_ _ _ _

____There was a painfully long pause before Lovett took a step forward. “You want to join us?”_ _ _ _

____Jon looked around. There was a group looking on. He was sure the right thing to do was take the half dozen steps it would take to join the small table, possibly lessening the awkward for everyone else but he shook his head instead. He took a step back and turned halfway before he heard his name. He wasn’t sure who was calling after him. It probably didn’t matter in the long run._ _ _ _

____And ‘a long run’ sounded like an excellent idea._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____He, unfortunately, had to drive home before he could do any running, but his newly fixed iPhone played music loud. He turned off the reception and put on a mix that had been intended to numb out the drone of airplane takeoffs and landings, loud and thumping. He wished he could take a nice Xanax to take the edge off of the anxiety he was feeling at that moment, but the few his doctor had prescribed him were for flights and were also, unfortunately, the length of his house in LA traffic away from him. He beat out the rhythm on the top of his steering wheel as The Offspring bled into a Blink-182 song._ _ _ _

____‘Rollercoaster’_ _ _ _

____His brain was already veering towards Lovett, and now his playlist was being a freaking jackass about it. Granted, he’d made the playlist, and the drumbeat in the song had a weird calming effect on him, but fuck that. He would change it, he was going to, but he was a masochist, and the whole thing was so messed up._ _ _ _

____Lovett was single. Lovett and Ronan were just friends. He’d been pining after Lovett for weeks (if not longer, but that would be unpacked later) and it was all because of the stupidity of him not asking what Ronan was doing at Lovett’s house in the first place. He wondered if he’d known it, would it have made the whole thing go away. Or maybe, just maybe, it was just something boiling underneath that he had no choice about. Who let themselves into their friends’ houses and took their friends’ dogs for walks? Who shared car rides and took care of each other when the other was sick?_ _ _ _

____Ronan being there was a catalyst, for sure, but maybe Dan had been just as right as generally was. Maybe this had been playing out for a while._ _ _ _

____It made his stomach hurt. It made him a little sweatier than he would like to be even with the air on full blast. He wasn’t sure what the hell he was supposed to do with the information. He was aware he should probably call Tommy, or Andy, or Dan, or _anyone_ , but for someone who used words as his means to make money, he had none to give at the moment. _ _ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____After an eternity in the car, or possibly an hour, he arrived home to find Leo happy as always to see him there. He stripped out of his jeans and into his shorts. It was mid-afternoon and one of the worst times to run, he was going to be regretting the decision in a short amount of time, but his legs felt restless. He put the leash on Leo and loaded up on the water in both his Camelback and the small portable water bowl he carried for the dogs when he left the house._ _ _ _

____Without stretching or even putting on sunscreen he left the house and started his run. He wasn’t sure where he was going but decided not to follow his usual routine. He turned left where he should have turned right and just went. Pushing himself but taking ample breaks for Leo to lay on his side and drink plenty of water._ _ _ _

____He kept his earbuds in and listened to whatever playlist he’d chosen at random. Thankfully none of the songs made him think of Lovett, but the fact that they didn’t still make him think of Lovett. It was a little embarrassing. He ran until Leo gave up, which took a while, as Leo had been through a lot of his stress runs in DC. But it was LA, not DC and Leo laid down and gave him the same look Pundit gave him when she was through._ _ _ _

____It was then that he looked around and realized he had very little idea as to where he was. The houses kind of looked familiar, but all the houses looked like his so that wasn’t helpful. He turned his phone’s cell service back on and was shocked to find he was almost six miles from his house._ _ _ _

____“Sorry buddy,” he said, picking up Leo and turning towards his house. The walk would be his wind down and probably his punishment, as the stopping from the burn of running was catching up with him._ _ _ _

____The buds in his ears almost immediately began to buzz. He looked at his phone and was not at all surprised to find that it was Lovett. Of course, it was Lovett. He resisted the urge just to turn his cell service back off, as he needed to be able to use the GPS to find his way home._ _ _ _

____He swiped to answer the call._ _ _ _

____“Hey Lovett,” he said, realizing too late that he was panting almost as badly as Leo._ _ _ _

____“Where the _hell_ are you?” _ _ _ _

____Jon looked up at an upcoming street sign. “Uh. Lavender and Mathis?”_ _ _ _

____“ _Where_?” _ _ _ _

____He removed one of the earbuds, Lovett’s shriek hurting a bit. “Lavender and Mathis.”_ _ _ _

____“That was rhetorical. Stay there.”_ _ _ _

____“I was running, Lovett,” Jon protested, weakly._ _ _ _

____Lovett let out a scoff. “You have Leo, and even I know that dog is in your arms. I can hear his panting through the phone. Did you bring water?”_ _ _ _

____“Yes, I brought water.”_ _ _ _

____“For the dog?”_ _ _ _

____Jon rolled his eyes. “Yes, Lovett, I’ve technically had this dog longer than you’ve had Pundit.”_ _ _ _

____“Shut up. I’m not letting you off the phone. I’ve been driving around the neighborhood for twenty-five minutes.”_ _ _ _

____He reached the cross streets and stopped, putting Leo down in a patch of grass on someone’s yard. When he opened the water bowl, the dog lapped at it lazily, lifting his head enough to drink and then look at Jon resentfully._ _ _ _

____Lovett was ranting at him, but Jon wasn’t paying attention. His nerves were frazzled, physically and metaphorically and it was sadly comforting just to hear the familiar cadence of an annoyed Lovett. He lifted his shirt to wipe his face, which was dripping with sweat and heard a distinct curse._ _ _ _

____He dropped his shirt and saw Lovett’s car swerve a little as it came down Mathis. Butterflies filled his stomach as his face came into view, mixed with a sense of relief as he was starting to feel his legs turn to jelly. He unceremoniously hung up on Lovett and slipped his phone and ear buds into his pocket, going to pick up Leo and the water bowl._ _ _ _

____The passenger window was open, and Lovett had started in on the tirade he must have been still in the middle of when Jon had hung up on him. Leo perked up at the sight of Lovett, and he wiggled in Jon’s arms. He opened the door and slipped in, not bothering to address Lovett but trying his best to focus in on the words for the first time in a while._ _ _ _

____“— hurt Leo in the process. He’s a tiny dog, Jon. You don’t just drag dogs into your stupid freakouts. What the hell is wrong with you?”_ _ _ _

____He placed Leo on his lap, but the dog had plans of his own and jumped out of Jon’s lap and into the back seat on the floor, promptly lying down to take a nap. “I had water for him. I didn’t know how far I was going. I guess I got distracted.”_ _ _ _

____“How do you get _this_ distracted? Knowing you, this wasn’t even a direct path. You’ve been out for at _least_ an hour. It’s nearly four in the afternoon, do you know that is _prime_ time for the bad type of sunlight? You are basically asking for skin cancer at this point. And you’re bright red, like _crab_ red. _Tell_ me you put on sunscreen.” _ _ _ _

____Jon went to take a long swig from his water pack but found it was nearly empty as he only got about half of what he wanted before it made the familiar air popping noise. His silence on the matter was enough for Lovett to make a sound that was akin to the noise he made when he was told all a bar had was beer._ _ _ _

____“You have got to be kidding me. What is _wrong_ with you?” _ _ _ _

____The words echoed in his brain. He’d asked Ronan that, just a few hours before. He’d asked it multiple times, thinking that Ronan had dared to think he could find better than Jon. The flood of the conversation at the Grove filled his brain, and he felt the weird stomach drop sensation of a dip in a roller coaster._ _ _ _

____“I don’t know,” he said honestly._ _ _ _

____Lovett scoffed. “Well, I could make a list for you, if you want. I am going to be shocked if we aren’t all over twitter as we speak. I can’t believe you yelled at Ronan. Why the hell did you think we were dating? When did I give you any indication of that?”_ _ _ _

____“He was _staying_ with you.” _ _ _ _

____“Yeah, he and Liam are thinking of moving to LA, he’s been looking at houses. Trust me. I probably would have _said_ something about having a boyfriend again. Is this why you’ve been so weird about coming over? I thought you were still pissed at Ronan for the whole break up, but you thought what? You’d catch us hooking up?” _ _ _ _

____Jon, who had legitimately been petrified of that, looked at the road ahead of them. They were still at a standstill. “You could have told me he was looking for a house.”_ _ _ _

____This quieted him down, at least, for a long moment. Jon felt at once vindicated and a bit guilty. It wasn’t his place to guilt him about it. What Lovett did in his free time wasn’t his business. Or it shouldn’t be. Even if he wanted it to be._ _ _ _

____“You know, you could drive,” Jon said. “I think we might get the cops called on us for suspicious behavior.”_ _ _ _

____Lovett made a noise that might have been a laugh. “What? A guy picking up a sweaty dude on the side of the road is suspicious? We’re in LA, Favreau. That’s the least suspicious behavior there is.”_ _ _ _

____It caught Jon off guard, and he let out a laugh that echoed in the small car. He looked over and saw the self-satisfied Lovett smirk. Always seeking that laugh, even a decade after he gave up stand-up for good. Lovett lifted his foot off the break, and they moved forward, in the wrong direction but at least in _a_ direction. _ _ _ _

____“You know, if you ever were to go in script writing, that was a pretty good standoff,” Lovett said, casual except for how tightly his eyes were focused ahead. “A rom-com trope. Just needed one of those epic swells of music and like, you to actually want me.”_ _ _ _

____Jon felt his whole body go stiff._ _ _ _

____“Which,” Lovett jumped in. “I know, I know you were just defending my honor in your own stupid way, but like. Just so you know. I’m pretty sure you disappointed a few girls and guys back at the Grove. With like… them thinking the wrong thing.”_ _ _ _

____Jon put his hands on the exposed skin below his running shorts and ran his hands along his thighs. He wasn’t expecting to have the conversation in the car, but he hadn’t thought he would ever have the conversation at all._ _ _ _

____“I wouldn’t say they were wrong,” he said. The car jerked to the left, but they were going about six miles per hour on an otherwise empty street, so he only made a token gesture of putting his hand up to the _oh shit_ bar. _ _ _ _

____“You said I was attractive.”_ _ _ _

____Jon let his eyes slide quickly over to see that Lovett was gripping the steering wheel too tight, his knuckles white, his face taut._ _ _ _

____“I also called you funny and intelligent.”_ _ _ _

____“ _Hilarious_ ,” Lovett corrected. “You called me _hilarious_.” _ _ _ _

____Jon rolled his eyes. “Forgive me for forgetting the exact verbiage, I was resisting the urge to punch a journalist.”_ _ _ _

____“You wanted to punch Ronan?”_ _ _ _

____He looked over at Lovett, who was alternating between looking at the road and looking at him. He couldn’t help but feel his nerves hackle again. He inhaled. “Pull over.”_ _ _ _

____Lovett frowned. The car was still going _maybe_ ten miles an hour, but he complied, pulling off onto a side road, another one he didn’t recognize. _ _ _ _

____“Now look at me,” Jon said. Lovett turned in his seat, seemingly unwillingly._ _ _ _

____“What?”_ _ _ _

____Jon took a deep breath. “I wanted to punch Ronan. I wanted to punch Ronan the first day I saw him in your house, I wanted to punch him when you guys took Pundit on a walk without me, and I _really_ wanted to punch Ronan today when I saw him kiss that redhead.” _ _ _ _

____“His _boyfriend_ ,” Lovett clarified. _ _ _ _

____“I didn’t know that. I thought he was cheating on you. I saw him sitting there all happy and kissing someone who wasn’t you and I just… Yeah. It wasn’t going to end well for anyone involved if I punched him, but I thought about it.”_ _ _ _

____Lovett blinked at him. “So instead you walked over and yelled at him about how attractive and hilarious I am.”_ _ _ _

____“It wasn’t the best idea, in hindsight. But it was better than punching him.”_ _ _ _

____“But… why?”_ _ _ _

____“Because he has good cheekbones and he makes his living off TV appearances…”_ _ _ _

____Lovett glared at him. “You know that wasn’t what I was asking.”_ _ _ _

____“Because… you’re _my_ Lovett. And Pundit is _my_ dog. And I didn’t like that he thought he could just come in and take those things back.” _ _ _ _

____“I’m _your_ Lovett?” _ _ _ _

____Jon let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m usually better at this.”_ _ _ _

____“I know, it’s actually weirdly endearing,” Lovett said, his voice strange and almost detached. “Jon. Remember when Ronan and I broke up the first time, that night you got me so fucking drunk I hated you for a solid week after?”_ _ _ _

____“Just because you’re a cheap drunk…”_ _ _ _

____“You told me that I deserved better, that if you were mine, you wouldn’t hurt me.”_ _ _ _

____Jon startled. He did _not_ remember that part of the conversation. Granted, he had gone hard to the paint where it came to drinking. Lovett might be a three drink blackout but he was a good Boston boy. He’d drank enough to take off the edge he’d felt of anger towards Ronan. _ _ _ _

____“I thought at the time you were just being… I don’t know. _You._ But you … meant it?” _ _ _ _

____He licked his lips, wishing there was more water in his Camelback. “I think I might have.”_ _ _ _

____“Okay, this _really_ isn’t the time for maybes, Jon.” _ _ _ _

____He leaned over the console and pressed his lips to Lovett’s before he could second-guess himself. Or triple guess himself. His brain was kind of a weird place. At first, Jon was met with a half-open mouth, but blessedly Lovett closed his lips and kissed back._ _ _ _

____It was softer than Jon had imagined their first kiss would be. For whatever reason, he’d expected an angry kiss, possibly with alcohol and Tommy and Dan present like everything else in their life. But instead there was just them, light music in the background, and Leo huffing at them from the backseat. Lovett’s lips were warm and pressed into Jon in a way that felt like they’d done it a hundred times before._ _ _ _

____He slipped his hand up to ground himself on Lovett’s neck, but Lovett pulled back and shook his head._ _ _ _

____“Wh—?”_ _ _ _

____“We’re going home.”_ _ _ _

____Jon’s stomach dropped._ _ _ _

____“Why?”_ _ _ _

____“Because you smell like sweat and dirt and Leo needs better air conditioning, and I am not getting caught making-out in my car in broad daylight. I’m 36 and still holding onto some dignity here.”_ _ _ _

____There were things he could protest there, about Leo being pretty happy in the back seat and how he was older than him and didn’t mind getting caught but he was pretty sweaty, and he possibly could do with a shower and a glass of water before settling in for what was to come. Plus he had the image of lazy making-out on his couch, the dogs at their feet and no center console between them._ _ _ _

____“Drive fast.”_ _ _ _

____Lovett cursed under his breath. “Dirty pool, Jon.”_ _ _ _

____*_ _ _ _

____A week later they were back at the gastropub with Ronan, this time without Tommy but _with_ Liam in what would probably be described as the most uncomfortable double date of all time. Liam seemed oblivious to the fact that Ronan and Jon were uncomfortable, Lovett most certainly was not. _ _ _ _

____Lovett kept tapping the top of Jon’s knee to get his attention and making a face at him that was telling him to say _something_. Jon would just smile back at him because he didn’t want to say anything. He was somewhat okay with Ronan hating him, or not liking him, or whatever it was that Ronan felt towards him._ _ _ _

_____But_ it made Lovett look sad, and Jon was so freaking gone for the stupid face that he finally cleared his throat. _ _ _ _

____“So, uh,” Jon said and looked up to find Ronan staring at him. He wasn’t wearing his glasses this time. His eyes were really painfully blue. “Sorry about the whole Grove thing. I was misinformed.”_ _ _ _

____“You were not _misinformed_ ,” Lovett scoffed. “You _assumed_.” _ _ _ _

____Jon rolled his eyes. “I _assumed_. And I was wrong.” _ _ _ _

____Ronan, whose face had been more or less neutral the bulk of their hors d’eurves, broke out into a smile. “You weren’t _completely_ wrong. He is pretty funny.” _ _ _ _

____“ _Hilarious_.” He and Lovett said in unison. _ _ _ _

____Liam laughed. “You guys are cute.”_ _ _ _

____Jon scratched the back of his neck, ducking his head to hide the blush on the top of his cheeks. Lovett tucked his head against his side to hide his laughter into Jon’s shoulder. He let himself enjoy the moment._ _ _ _

____ _ _

______ _ _

_Late to the party with you_  
_Oh, who needs confetti?_  
_We're already falling into the groove_  
_And who needs a crowd when you're happy at a party for two?_  
_The world can wait_  
_Cause I'm never late to the party if I'm late to the party with you_  
Kacey Musgraves "Late to the Party" 


End file.
